I’ve always said that there are a few things I’m terrified to make because my mother makes them so well. On the list are Matzo Ball Soup, Brisket and Apple Pie. People have suggested to me various ways in which to make the making of apple pie less intimidating and one of those ways was to make it for no occasion. If I were making an apple pie for Thanksgiving for the first time, there would be a lot of pressure to make sure it comes out delicious and perfect. However, making it on a day like today… a random Sunday in the middle of August… is not intimidating because if it doesn’t turn out it’s okay, it was just an apple pie, not a Thanksgiving Apple Pie, not a pie for someone’s birthday, etc.

So today I have taken it upon myself to make my mother’s Apple Pie Recipe… and here it is:

Crust:

2 cups of flour (white, unbleached)

1 stick butter

1 teaspoon of sugar

2-3 Tablespoons of ice water

The idea (according to my Mom) is to handle the dough as little as possible. You want the butter to stay cold and in little pieces and not melt. The less processing and handling the better the crust.

Put the flour in the Cuisinart, and cut the butter into pieces. Add the sugar. Pulse the mixture rapidly pulsing on and off. When the butter and flour are mixed and mixture looks like little peas, add the ice water a tablespoon at a time, pulsing quickly after each addition. When the mixture barely holds together, take it out of the bowl onto a piece of waxed paper. Quickly form it into a flattened ball, wrap it in waxed paper and then in a plastic bag and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour.

Filling

5-6 large green apples: Granny Smith or Greenings if you can get them

1 large red or yellow Delicious apple

Sugar and Cinnamon

1 small lemon, juice only

bread crumbs

Pie

pam for bottom of pie pan

2 Tablespoons of sour cream or 1 egg beaten with a bit of water, to brush on top of the pie

Peel, core, quarter and slice the apples. Put into a large bowl and add sugar and cinnamon to taste (usual ration: 1 part cinnamon to 4 parts sugar). Add juice of 1 small lemon. Let the filling sit and then preheat the oven to 450 degrees while rolling out the crust.Cut the crust ball into 2 pieces. Roll out one piece at a time. Spray the pie pan with Pam or use a bit of butter to grease it. Put the bottom crust in the pan–it should overlap the sides of the pan a bit. Sprinkle bread crumsb on top of the bottom crust. Then roll out the top crust. When the top is ready, pour the apple mixture into the bottom crust.Fit the top crust over, and crimp the edges together. Using a pastry brush, brush the top crust with sour cream or one beaten egg.

This was just before putting the pie in the oven

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, then lower temperature to 350 and bake another 45 minutes until the crust is golden. If the edges of the crust are getting too brown, carefully put aluminum foil over the edges.

One Response to Conquering my fears… #1: Apple Pie

That Ken is such a hungry boy. Your brother-in-law Jon made an apple pie from scratch last week. He didn’t think it came out so well because the crust fell apart, but we all disagreed. It was “da bomb”.